BABY DRIVER (2017) aka, the Edgar Wright/Ansel Elgort/Kevin Spacey/Jamie Foxx pop-song-and-car-chase Walter Hill homage(?)

oh come on Valerian was dreadful!!

does Ansel bottom in Valerian

Dane DeHaan is nearly as cute as Ansel and the voice he affects is unbearable; he sounds like an 11 year old impersonating his father on the phone

*is NOT nearly as cute

OTM and he looks all of 15

I think I had lower expectations for valerian than baby driver, which is why BD was worse imo

this was fairly fun, but every single thing in it pointed to Baby hugely outwitting everyone with a giant confusing amazing car chase sequence to cap off the film. They set him up as being super smart, but instead he suddenly turns stupid, fucks up the getaway royally and we get a pretty boring fight instead?

A good planner is not a good extemporiser!

He wasn't supposed to be super smart! He's super naive, and weirdly talented in one very specific area. Almost an idiot savant. And he was never the planner, Doc was. So, once the plan goes bad and he's no longer behind the wheel, he has no particular resources to draw on. He's just a kid.

atl folk (and others) might find this interesting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ry9X2FPfHM

I don't see action films of any kind, although there's probably a tiny bit of overlap with what I do see--I mean, No Country for Old Men had some action. I definitely don't see Fast and Furious-type films, but the music in the trailer for this one reeled me in.

The soundtrack did not save it; just one long reminder of why I don't see action films. Found the last half-hour (everything after "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1") particularly stupefying.

I really must insist you not use this as any exemplar of action films tbh, there are many brilliant movies released in the last several years

What you want to avoid, imo, is going to see shit movies because of a soundtrack

As soon as cars start hurtling all over the place, I just shut down. And that constitutes, what, a third of the film? It seemed like an action film to me.

I've seen one or two other films where Spacey "heads a crew"--one of them involved gambling, and Justin Timberlake was in it. Every other line's supposed to be charged with witty cool. He's terrible in these roles. And I think it might have been the first time I've seen John Hamm outside of Mad Men. Somewhat better than Spacey--he had a few lines that seemed like they came from an actual person--but equally terrible in that last half-hour. The other four principals--Foxx, the two women, and the baby driver--were comparatively okay, I guess. Did someone think Paul Williams carries a great deal of cultural resonance? "Wow--it's Paul Williams!"

Woah I didn't say this wasn't an action film

I just protest your seeming acceptance that it's in any way a good example of the genre.

On a separate note, Kevin Spacey is, and always has been, a very poor actor. In many ways as bad as John Malkovich.

That's not true, especially before 1995. Possibly opportunities exposed the limits of his range, but range is overrated anyway.

do u think the car chase scenes are bad, d?

Once you get past what, at the time, I assume was the newness of the car chases in Bullitt and The French Connection, how do you tell if a car chase is good? They just cut the same impossibilities together ever faster and faster, louder and louder.

staging has a lot to do with it. I felt like the first chase in Baby Driver was one of the best I'd seen recently.

shoulda just made the movie a 90 minute chase. kinda like that shit movie Kidnap but like instead, good.

zoe bell's stunt work in death proof comes to mind as for as good recent chases

should also include the infamous stock Troma car crash footage

Car chases in this were told, and first one yes particularly so

You can tell if a car chase is good if you enjoy it. How dyou judge ice cream ffs.

Zoe bells stunt work in deathproof is not remembered in my house but every other excruciating moment she spent on camera will never be forgiven

Car chase in the seven ups btw.

clem's right that the last half hour is a travesty, and I can't stand the way female love interests are used in these films, but the first 70 minutes are a knockout. So is Ansel Elgort, who's a screen presence of odd passivity.

Everything through iirc the restaurant is tickety boo, if it's not all exceptional then the imagination on show and elgort certainly carry it so

This film was ok, some good parts, a lot of dumb parts. I enjoyed Hamm and Foxx, thought Baby was a bit of a d-bag. Lily James reminded me of young Madchen Amick, and she worked in a diner!

Also, there wasn't a Stereolab song in this.

Meant to mention how much she reminded me of Madchen Amick. Enough so that when I looked up her credits, I discovered I haven't seen her in anything else despite feeling sure I had.

This movie was mediocre 10 years after the fact when mediocre would have sufficed.

wow, this movie really did suck

They must really teach those "Fame" dance moves to all the kids at LaGuardia High School!

On a separate note, Kevin Spacey is, and always has been, a very poor actor. In many ways as bad as John Malkovich.

― passé aggresif (darraghmac), Monday, 4 September 2017 22:20 (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Wow, are you... me?

Are you both William Shatner?

XP can't help it if we're both so right

I do kind of feel about this movie the way I did about Brick (not that the movies themselves are at all similar)--like maybe there are actually genuinely good things about it that speak only to discerning young folks, and I'm too old to really get it.

There's a kind of unselfconscious openness among younger millenials that makes me want to roll my eyes, but at the same time I support it and think it's positive and great!

Brick was good

But not necessarily for young-person reasons - it's an old genre movie in (very thin) disguise.

I dunno, there may be something in that young person theory. I really liked Brick and saw it multiple times in college, but I watched it again a couple of months ago and thought this time it was actually kind of terrible?

Only JGL and the kid who played Brain were good in it - the rest of it came off really awkward and hokey in a way it didn't when I was younger.

I enjoyed Baby Driver but only because I went in with low expectations. The story is super thin, but mostly here for impeccably soundtracked car chases and Ansel Elgort's cheekbones.

Xps yes! I hated brick and didn't understand why everyone loved it so much

you are not alone just1n3!

come anticipate 'Brick' with me!

I do kind of feel about this movie the way I did about Brick (not that the movies themselves are at all similar)--like maybe there are actually genuinely good things about it that speak only to discerning young folks, and I'm too old to really get it.

There's a kind of unselfconscious openness among younger millenials that makes me want to roll my eyes, but at the same time I support it and think it's positive and great!

― Dan I., Friday, September 15, 2017 8:00 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

these movies were both written and directed by gen x dudes. i don't know that they are necessarily for the young.

i quite liked brick because i like jgl but the acting isn't great and the concept wears a little thin

I disliked Brick and enjoyed Baby Driver.

They're completely different movies, I didn't mean to directly compare them. I just meant that they both give me the same feeling that I get when I reflect on the popularity of, I don't know, Twitch streams, for example: "I don't understand the appeal of this at all, but I think I would if I were younger"

The presence of Paul Williams, not to mention the musical selections, was evidence enough that there was definitely An Old at the helm, though.

Is Wright that old?

This is my favorite movie of the year. Lot of fun, great mix of genres and homages, amazing soundtrack. Surprised the common wisdom here is so negative. Ah well, your loss!

Given that he opens the movie with the jon spencer blues explosion, I'd be shocked if he were either younger than 38 or older than 45

'Baby driver is way better than Brick lol wtf' -a youngish millenial

i know it's not good to read an ilx thread for a popular movie you liked but impeccably soundtracked car chases and Ansel Elgort's cheekbones <- seriously, what more do you want out of a movie?

Alfred always otm itt

Brick is very fun and was made for like literally 1/100 the budget of BD, leave it alone

yeah but no Ansel cheekbones